Late last month, a snowstorm stranded guests, employees and an Oasis tribute band at a pub in Yorkshire, England. They were stuck in the pub, which is also an inn, for three days until the roads were cleared and it was safe for them to leave.
Though they were in a warm place with plenty of food, they couldn’t even go outside, as the exterior doors had up to three feet of snow piled against them. What do you think it was like to spend days in a building, unable to leave?
Has anything like that ever happened to you? In unusual circumstances, have you tried to make the best of things? How hard was that to do?
In “Snowstorm Leaves Dozens Stranded for Days in a Remote U.K. Pub,” Alyssa Lukpat tells the story, which begins:
Up on a hill in Yorkshire, England, a crowd filled a pub on Friday to listen to an Oasis tribute band. Inside the pub, the Tan Hill Inn, the beers were cold, the fires were warming and the musicians were electric.
But outside, the winds were howling and the snow was swirling. The pub patrons knew the forecast was dire, but not so much that piles of snow as high as three feet would block the pub’s exits, said Nicola Townsend, the inn’s general manager.
After the tribute band, Noasis, finished its set, the local authorities said it was not safe to drive home, Ms. Townsend said on Sunday night.
So the patrons, the band members and seven inn employees stayed the night.
And then another.
And on Sunday night, they stayed another.
The article goes on to give more details about the experience:
Guests were emotional as they said their goodbyes on Monday, she said, “because we’ve had such a good time meeting new friends, getting to know new people.”
To pass the time, they took pub quizzes, watched movies like “Grease” and “Mamma Mia!” and sang karaoke, she said on Sunday.
“Lots of Oasis at the moment,” she said, adding that the pub-goers have started calling the tribute band “Snowasis.”
Band members had to cancel a performance on Saturday night because they were snowed in. “We have no way of making it to our gig,” the band said on Facebook.
Those at the pub enjoyed a few beers, but no one was “getting loud and drunk,” Ms. Townsend said, because they wanted to be “respectful of each other.”
Some of those who were stranded already had rooms at the inn, while others had parked their motor homes outside. The rest crammed into the lounge, where they slept on sofas or on the floor. Employees supplied them with mattresses, blankets and pillows, and kept the fireplaces roaring.
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
What surprises you most about the story of the people stranded at the pub? Why?
Have you ever faced something unexpected, inconvenient or perhaps even unpleasant (after all, most people stranded at the inn didn’t have their own rooms or even a change of clothes) and tried to make the best of the situation? How did you handle the experience? Did you learn anything about yourself, other people or even life itself?
How important do you think attitude is in an experience like this? How would you describe the attitude of the people who were stranded? How might things have ended differently if they had shown a different attitude?
The article notes that the people who were stranded came together, with the guests helping wash dishes and collecting money for the employees. Have you ever been in a difficult situation that brought people together? Conversely, have you been in one where people did not take care of, or even turned on, one another? What was that experience like? How did it affect the outcome of the situation?
Just for fun, make a list of places you wouldn’t mind being stranded. If you had to choose one, which would it be? What do you think it would be like to be stuck there? If you could choose a few people to be stranded with, who would they be? Why did you choose them?
Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
